Suicide in South Korea

South Korea has the fourth highest suicide rate in the world and the highest among OECD countries.^[3] The elderly in South Korea are at the highest risk of suicide, but deaths from teen suicide have been rising since 2010. In 2022 suicide caused more than half of all deaths among South Koreans in their twenties. It is the leading cause of death for those between the age of 10 and 39, in line with most OECD countries.^[3][4][5]

Relative poverty among senior citizens in South Korea, although declining since 2011, has contributed to their high rate of suicide. Because of a poorly-funded social safety net for the elderly, many choose to take their own life so as not to be a financial burden to their families. The social tradition of children looking after their parents in old age has largely disappeared in 21st century Korea.^[6] Rural residents tend to have higher suicide rates due to self-reported high rates of elderly discrimination, reaching 85.7% for those in their 50s, especially when applying for jobs.^[7] Poverty, age discrimination, and suicide often occur together.^[8]

In 2011 the South Korean government enacted the suicide prevention act, which created a network of government funded suicide prevention and mental health welfare centers across the country.^[3] They had an effect of decreasing suicide rates when the number of suicides per 100,000 people declined by 4.1% from 28.5 in 2013 to 27.3 in 2014, the lowest in six years since 2008's 26.0 people.^[9][10]

A 2024 TIME Magazine investigation reported that South Korea's suicide prevention and mental health welfare centers receive insufficient government funding, data, and support. Senior officials from six local centers alleged that the central government withholds suicide-related data from them "to shield districts, cities, and provinces with high rates of suicide from reputational damage," obstructing their efforts "to enact policies that would meet the needs of their communities and, ultimately, save lives."^[11]